Concepts & scene
A deliberately short orientation. When you need depth, use vanilla files side-by-side with the wiki.
Four pillars
1
Effects & triggers
Scopes and conditions drive almost everything. Vanilla scripts are the textbook.
2
Events & on_actions
Hooks fire events; chains and scripted loc keep campaigns reactive.
3
Localisation
YAML keys → player-facing text. Prefix names (e.g. MYMOD_…) to avoid clashes.
4
GFX & UI
Icons and .gui follow vanilla patterns first; small visual wins add up.
Toolkit today
VS Code + CWTools for validation and autocomplete; Git for history; error.log when something breaks; load-order helpers when stacks get ugly.
Scene
Hard parts
Big patches break saves and mods; engines and launchers have rough edges—communities adapt anyway.
Why people stay
Players ship fixes fast; total conversions rival DLC scope; skills you learn here transfer to real projects.
Official links
Ready to build? Start your first mod.